Rachel Baack

Summary: This work is a play written in 441 BC by Sophocles, a great playwright of his time. The work has been translated into English, but it is not nearly as hard to understand as one might think. Although it is an old work, it deals with some very relevant themes and raises philosophical questions that people have been asking for ages about the proper use of power, compromise, gender roles, and more. The play is the third work in a trilogy, and it follows the story of a young woman who defies the king (her uncle) to do what she believes is right and honor her deceased brother.

Summary: Wordsworth recounts several episodes from his life and intersperses them with his thoughts about life and nature.

Summary: Rich with imagery, this long poem describes several vignettes and also explores the idea of the self as supreme.

Summary: This poem is told through the eyes of a war veteran. He tells of his experiences caring for the wounded.

Summary: This poem imagines a world post-humanity and claims that the rest of nature would not be bothered by humankind’s disappearance from the face of the Earth.

I have not read this entire collection, but the works I have read are listed and rated below:

• “Ave Atque Vale”: The speaker mourns the death of the poet Charles Baudelaire. This poem provides a more hopeless view of death than many other poems do. Rating: 3.5/5
• “A Forsaken Garden”: The speaker conveys the hopelessness presented by the ultimate death of all things through his description of a desolate oceanside. Rating: 3/5
• “Hertha”: A goddess, who describes herself to be the one true source of all things, preaches to humanity a kind of humanistic religion which is to bring the death of all other religions. Rating: 4.5/5

• “Hymn to Porserpine”: After the issuance of the edict of Millan, the speaker contemplates the replacement of the pagan religion with Christianity and the change that time brings. He does not submit to Christianity’s rule, but instead submits to the goddess of death. Rating: 2.5/5
• “The Lake of Gaube”: The speaker demonstrates the need for fear for the health of the soul and life using the image of a diver diving deep into a lake and feeling the possibility of death all around him. Rating: 3.5/5
• “Poeta Loquitur”: Swinburne presents a parody of his own writing, saying that his poetry is no good and is nothing but wind. Rating: 2/5
• “Sonnet for a Picture”: The speaker parody’s the human view of passion and romance as the ultimate end/good. Rating: 2/5

This collection of poetry explores the wonder of existence in every form from the intangible, to the cosmic, to the infinitesimal.

Summary: The narrator of this poem, Cap, tells the tale of his journey seeking gold in the frigid Yukon. Sam McGee, before seemingly freezing to death, asks Cap to cremate his body. Cap complies, to surprising results.

I have not read this entire collection, but the poems I have read are listed and rated below:

• “Ardour and Memory”: The speaker explains that beauty resurfaces amidst darkness through memory. Rating: 1/5
• “Autumn Idleness": The speaker describes the frosty end of November in which he wanders, unsure what he should do. Rating: 1/5
• “Barren Spring”: The speaker notes the coming of spring, but his mood does not match the weather’s cheerfulness. Rating: 0.5/5
• “Body’s Beauty” or “Lady Lilith” or “Lilith”: The speaker addresses Lilith, who, according to legend, was Adam’s first wife and who has the power to ensnare men with her golden hair. Rating: 0.5/5
• “The One Hope”: The speaker posits that hope is the one thing left after all else is gone. Rating: 3/5
• “A Superscription”: A speaker that refers to itself as “Might-Have-Been” talks to an audience of one about love that could have been. Rating: 1/5
• “Willowwood”: The speaker describes a dreamlike happening in which he is spoken to by Love personified and gets to kiss his deceased wife again. Rating: 2/5

I have not read this entire collection, but the poems I have read are listed and rated below:

• “Ardour and Memory”: The speaker explains that beauty resurfaces amidst darkness through memory. Rating: 1/5
• “Autumn Idleness": The speaker describes the frosty end of November in which he wanders, unsure what he should do. Rating: 1/5
• “Barren Spring”: The speaker notes the coming of spring, but his mood does not match the weather’s cheerfulness. Rating: 0.5/5
• “Body’s Beauty” or “Lady Lilith” or “Lilith”: The speaker addresses Lilith, who, according to legend, was Adam’s first wife and who has the power to ensnare men with her golden hair. Rating: 0.5/5
• “The One Hope”: The speaker posits that hope is the one thing left after all else is gone. Rating: 3/5
• “A Superscription”: A speaker that refers to itself as “Might-Have-Been” talks to an audience of one about love that could have been. Rating: 1/5
• “Willowwood”: The speaker describes a dreamlike happening in which he is spoken to by Love personified and gets to kiss his deceased wife again. Rating: 2/5

I have not read this entire anthology, but the works included in it that I have read are listed and rated below:

• “Autumn Idleness” (from “The House of Life: A Sonnet Sequence”): The speaker describes the frosty end of November in which he wanders, unsure what he should do. Rating: 1/5
• “The Blessed Damozel”: This poem tells of two lovers who have been separated by the death. The woman, the “blessed damozel,” has died and left her lover alive without her. In this poem, the lovers are able to communicate, as the young woman is conflicted about fully entering into the afterlife without her love and has not yet done so. Rating: 2/5
• "The Orchard Pit": The speaker describes a recurring dream in which he sees the sinister Belle Dame, who has "eyes of Death" watching some people in the orchard pit. Rating: 1/5
• “Sestina. Of the Lady Pietra degli Scrovigni”: This poem is a personification of stones and comparison of them to a lady. It was originally written by Dante Alighieri and translated by Rossetti. Rating: 2/5

• “Sudden Light”: A short poem that expresses the feeling of having the same experiences once before. Rating: 2/5
• "The Woodspurge": The speaker recounts his experience of simple observation amidst grief. Rating: 3.5/5

I have only read the title story from this collection. The following is a summary of "Button, Button": A couple must decide what to do when presented with a button, the pressing of which with result in the couple receiving $50,000 while someone they don’t know dies.